


But what next?

by Powered_By_Spite



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Aftermath, But I don't particularly care, Character Study, Everyone Has Issues, Major Spoilers, No Beta, Not gonna lie there's gonna be ocs eventually, Shuichi centric, Shuichi will probably be rather ooc, Sort Of, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, Unbeta'd, You try staying the same after all that death and murder, author has no idea what they're doing, characters suffering, dealing with traumatic events, everything is terrible and it wears on these children, mostly - Freeform, no beta we die like men, no planned romance, tags will be added as needed, they did absolutely nothing to change society
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-11
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-06-25 16:13:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15644328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Powered_By_Spite/pseuds/Powered_By_Spite
Summary: Shuichi Saihara, Maki Harukawa, and Himiko Yumeno step out of the rubble of the school and into the world they left behind.  But were they able to change anything? How do they live in a world they know nothing about? What do they do when they realize that nobody they once knew understands that the person they used to be is no more?





	1. The game ends and they get to go do paperwork

**Author's Note:**

> Now you all can see my idea for, worldbuilding, examination of characters, and the general aftermath. Watch as they go back to the real world, and the outright ludicrous of how 'normal' it all is

The smoke and rubble clung to them as they crawled out of the mess, into the world beyond. The sky was irritatingly bright once they pierced the worst of the dust, the sun beating down unapologetically.

And all they could do was smile as they stared outwards. The exit in the sewer was a lie, a stage set for the story. This was real, and they were going forward at last.

“Wh… Where do we go from here?” Himiko asked. Her hat was pulled low to block the sun, and she stared ruthlessly at the ground. As if it would give her an answer if she intimidated it.

And like that, the euphoria broke. Shuichi surveyed the surroundings cautiously. “First thing to do is to get back to society. None of us have the skills or knowledge to survive out here long term.” Shuchi mused.

“Incorrect.” Maki said flatly. Her face twisted like she swallowed something bitter, likely remembering old training of hers.

“Two out of three.” He answered, not quite paying attention. And then, a terrible thought occurred to him. But it was probably right.

“If… If we’re the cast…” Shuichi began. His tongue turned to lead, his throat closed. With deep breaths he steeled himself.

“If we’re the cast, then there… There should be a crew somewhere.” He croaked. Himiko let out a choked noise, and Maki’s breath hitched.

It was a logical assumption. They all hated how logical it was.

“Do they come to us, or we to them?” Maki asked. Shuichi turned away from her to try looking in the distance for signs of anything.

“I’m not sure…” He whispered, looking for signs of life. Nothing the eye could detect appeared to him. No hints of something other than themselves.

“Well, even if it’s them to us, I don’t think walking will hurt.” He said, putting confidence in his voice. It sounded so fake to him. As if one could crush the facade apart with a simple swat.

Himiko was visibly upset underneath her hat. But as Shuichi looked, he became increasingly uncomfortable. He didn’t know how to comfort her despite being upset for the exact same reasons. It was all he could do to keep more questions from rising up and paralyzing him to the spot.

“Let’s go.” Shuichi said quietly, stepping forward. There was only the sound of their footsteps as they walked. Shuichi couldn’t help but notice the way Maki’s fists clenched and unclenched repeatedly, and how she scanned the horizon every few seconds. It didn’t feel appropriate to bring up these actions though.

Maki’s head snapped to one side, eyes narrowing slightly.

“There they are.” She said. Her voice was devoid of emotion, and her hand was steady as she pointed to a growing shape. Himiko squeaked as she hid behind Shuichi, out of sight from what was probably a car.

“H-Hey!” Shuichi shouted. With some undignified flailing, Himiko was removed from her position. Shuichi had to bend down to look Himiko in the eye (though she would not meet his)

“I’m scared too. But if we don’t keep going forward… then what are we going to do?” He asked. Himiko’s face shifted from childish indignation to one of simple terror.

Her silence was agonizing. Shuichi could see her eyes track imaginary images, could nearly hear the gears turning. He saw the corners of her eyes become a little too shiny with moisture.

“All of… this-” Himiko began, waving to the three of them and flicking her wrist towards the school “for a TV show? One where we die?”

Her entire body was shaking. Her fingers trembled where they hovered, the movements unsubtle. Shuichi took a breath in to answer, and-

“It’s not that I disagree, but I think it’s a little late to change our minds.” Maki said. Her tone was unusually subdued. The car rumbled forward, silently coming to a halt before them. The door clicked open, and out came a man.

“Heya kiddos!” He chirped, grinning from ear to ear. Shuichi nearly burst into giggles on the spot. They nearly died, Kiibo died, and Tsumugi had betrayed them, and that’s what they were greeted with? He beat down the urge to laugh and chalked it up to stress and shock.

“Would you happen to be part of a team sent to collect us?” Shuichi asked. Maki huffed at the words, looking away. Even Himiko seemed a bit unimpressed. A small piece of Shuichi’s soul died at their exasperation, crushing itself in anxiety.

“Yup. Me and my buddy were sent to pick you three up and take you back.” The man answered, quickly walking to the back doors of the car.

“If you don’t mind, where exactly will we be going to?” Shuichi asked. The man opened the door, staring intently at the seats.

“First, there’ll be some paperwork to do. Standard stuff, y’know? Everyone saw the ending; you’ve had it explained that there’s no backtracking to the people you used to be. So we gotta register who you are now. After that, home!” The man said, bouncing to irritatingly happy in the last sentence.

“Home? Maki asked.

“Home. You had lives before, once this is all done you can see your family from before. Just some paperwork.” The man repeated. The joy was gone as quickly as it came, and he gestured to the inside of the car.

Shuichi had many second thoughts about getting in. Was this a trap? Was this the truth? Who was this man? 

But as his head turned to check his surroundings once more, the oppressive walls of choice- or lack thereof- closed in. Unless they were going to walk aimlessly, what would they do?

Shuichi climbed into the car, crawling into the middle seat. Awkwardly folding himself in, he fumbled for the seatbelt.

The other door opened too Maki. Her gaze swept the car and met his. For a brief moment he could pick out a clear intent and emotion, but it went to quick for him to tell what. He had a pretty good idea though. And he too really hoped this was the right choice.

Himiko didn’t make a sound as she settled in, surprising Shuichi when he turned to check. There was just the quiet click of her buckle.

Her eyes examined the seat in front of her, tracing the stitches in the leather. Her focus was unbroken as the first man climbed into the driver's seat and started the car.

“Where are we going? As in the town name.” Maki asked. The man started talking about the region they were in, and Shuichi’s focus drifted to the second in the passenger's seat.

His eyes flicked to the rear-view mirror rapidly and repeatedly. Was he truly that nervous about what they may do? Shuichi couldn’t figure out why the second man would be concerned as they drove over the uneven ground.

“Aaand here’s the road!” The first declared several minutes later. His auburn hair bounced as he looked back at them, going wild in the breeze from the slightly open window.

Shuichi said nothing as he tapped his fingers against his knee. Legal paperwork sounded… interesting, to say the least. What could it entail?

His teeth ground as he avoided his real question. He forced his eyes onto the road that they were still alone on. Perhaps there was a car in the distance?

“Once we’re done with the paperwork… you mentioned our families?” Himiko asked. Dammit.

Shuichi’s chest tightened as he thought of his negligent parents. How they left him with-

Shuichi bit the inside of his cheek as he reminded himself that they weren’t real. How he’d be meeting his real parents soon (but it didn’t make him feel better).

“I personally couldn’t tell you anything about them, but yeah. Families. Mothers, fathers, siblings.” The auburn noded, glancing at them in the mirror.

Shuichi looked to the car they were soon to pass. He examined how the red paint glittered in the sun, examined the hood ornament, examined the tires. (Ignored the people with phones taking photos of the car he was in. Pretended they weren’t awed by the cars presence)

“I wonder what they’ll be like?” Himiko twittered nervously. “Shuichi, what do you think yours will be like?” She asked, trying to redirect her energy.

“I uh… I don’t think… I don’t know.” Shuichi said, struggling with the sudden attention. The second man was suddenly rapt, staring them down indirectly through the mirrors.

“I couldn’t even begin to guess, truthfully. All I can remember is… Is what they gave me to remember.” Shuchi said, voice dropping as he vocally addressed his memories lack of truth.

“What do you remember of that family then?” Maki asked. Shuichi almost missed her question in his panic and her quietness.

“Oh… did I never mention it to you two?” Shuichi asked, stalling. His heart slowly dug deeper, and deeper, and deeper. Maybe it’ll eventually hit the road and splatter on the asphalt.

“At the very least, you never mentioned it to me.” Himiko said, stubborn in her interest in their families. 

“Well uh… they had a very… hands off approach, truth be told. My mother is-” Shuichi started. 

“So they’re not present in your life?” Maki asked. It felt like her eyes were pulling out the truth whether he liked it or not.

“They weren’t.” Shuichi huffed. He tapped his heel against the interior. “I lived with my aunt and uncle. As sort of… repayment for their care, I worked at my uncles detective agency. We mostly did infidelity cases. A stroke of bad luck really that I got my ultimate title.” Shuichi explained.

Maki’s eyes changed slightly. Shuichi thought they looked more sympathetic than before. “What exactly happened?” She asked.

“Almost into town now.” The man announced, interrupting what Shuichi was going to say. There were far more cars than before around them now, occasionally flying past or approaching behind them to turn somewhere.

The buildings in the immediate area were business buildings, such as recycling. Cars were already lined in the lots, going about their business. In the not very far distance one could see taller buildings, probably apartments and the like.

It felt surreal to see something so normal after the killing game. Shuichi lightly squeezed his own cheek, the pressure grounding him a bit.

We’re gonna turn here, go straight for a bit, and then probably get stuck in traffic because it’s rush.” The man informed sourly. Shuichi could see no true mass of cars in the proximity, but he didn’t doubt the mans words.

“Rush? What time is it?” Shuichi asked. “Uhhh…. Quarter to one? One? Teruo, check for us quick. Please and thank you.” The man chattered.

Teruo finally took his eyes off of the mirrors to pull out a large tablet. “Ten to.” He whispered. 

“Why exactly do you want to know?” Himiko asked, overpowering the quiet nervous energy of Teruo. She peered at Shuichi curiously, as if she could not conceive of how this would matter at all.

“Well ah… curiosity really. With all that happened, it was so easy to lose track.” Shuichi said, quickly looking away. Unfortunately that brought his gaze to Maki,  who had a bemused smile.

Shuichi turned to look forward. And only forward. They could be amused all they wanted, but he had nothing to hide and no reason not to ask. It was best not to feed into the two of them. (He could still feel his cheeks turning red in embarrassment)

The man was right about getting stuck in traffic. Cars packed in around them and they were forced to a crawl along the road. (More phones. More photos. Where was his hat?)

Shuichi finally let himself wander into thought, if only to pass the time. Becoming legal citizens again, huh? Was there a special process for Danganronpa contestants? Probably, it’d have to be streamlined for them. Parents? He didn’t even want to address that one.

What had his real name been? Who was he before? How did he act? What did he like? Shuichi had no clue. The video they’d been shown of him auditioning had taken the liberty of replacing his name with static. He didn’t want to think of what his enthusiasm had implied.

He was abruptly taken out of thoughts. Despite his level poker face, he could feel every inch of his face turn red as his stomach growled. Loudly.

The girls broke into snickers at his expense. “Don’t laugh…” Shuichi whined. His supposed to be serious reprimand came out as a weak plea. Maki’s hand landed on his shoulder as she kept snickering.

“You didn’t help yourself with that, you know that right?” She asked.

“Huh, what’re we laughing about back there?” The man asked. His hair was still sticking up from the window wind as he tried looking back at them.

“Well?” Himiko asked. She was happily oblivious, her cheery tone hiding if she could sense Shuichi’s extreme discomfort at being put in the spotlight.

“Oh back off! When’s the last time you two ate?” Shuichi asked, the snap in his tone wiping the happy looks off their faces.

“Now that you mention it…” Himiko pouted. She turned to look out the window, avoiding further contact with them.

“There wasn’t exactly a lot of time to eat after Kiibo decided to destroy the school.” Maki admitted. Or perhaps she was explaining to their driver. Either or, she was telling the truth. The chaos left in the wake of Kiibo’s attempts to end the game hadn’t left time to even think about food, let alone eat any.

“Ah, don’t worry! They have food at the office. It’ll be a bit plain, probably just sandwiches and maybe a bag of chips, but they’ll have food.” The man assured them.

Shuichi murmured a thanks and went silent. What was there to say? More cars passed, more distance was covered, and Shuichi was left alone to stew in his own thoughts.

This was their day? Two more dead, their reality shattered, and being shuttled off to do paperwork? It was absurd. Absolutely ridiculous. They crash an entire tv production and then go do paperwork.

It was equally insane that they were just… Sitting in a car, driving in a city. A real city and not the destroyed remains of humanity. To become legal citizens after participating in a killing game.

Shuichi almost didn’t notice the car slide into a parking lot until it stopped. The trip was already blurring into a long mess in his mind aside from the brief moments of talking to everyone else.

“Alright, we’re here. Get out, stretch a bit, and we’ll go in.” The driver informed. The three wasted no time in getting out of the car and standing on the pavement.

Shuichi immediately headed to see the cars driving by. He couldn’t help his curiosity about them. People going to work, coming home, to and from the store… It was so surreal.

He looked back to the car, where Maki stood watching him. He waved happily, and her usual blank look deepened into a scowl. 

Shuichi quickly walked back towards her. “What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Did we even manage to do anything, ending it like that?” She asked. Shuichi’s throat closed. Another question he’d been avoiding. Why did she have to go right for it?

“We made three live instead of two.” He answered. It was a technicality, sure, since technically four would’ve survived if they’d let the game continue. But two would’ve been put into the game again, to risk dying. Again.

One of the men in the car shouted something. Even Himiko, who’d wandered off, looked back curiously. Shuichi forced himself to focus on Maki.

“This isn’t exactly what I expected to happen once it was all done, but honestly this is far from the worst that could’ve.” Shuichi sighed, looking down at the pavement.

“We’re back into a society that loves death and treats it as a spectator sport.” Maki hissed. Her hair swished back and forth as she stepped forward. “I was worried from the moment we stepped out that-” She started.

“Then why didn’t you say it? Why didn’t you speak when we stepped out?” Shuichi asked. “I’m not enthused about what we’re going back to either but if you had such fear of it, why didn’t you say it? You said that it was too late when the car  _ approached us _ , why pick when we’re at the building to say anything?” Shuichi asked. Rage bubbled inside him, threatening to spill.

Maki stared at him in surprise. It occurred to Shuichi that maybe his rage had already spilled over. Even as he thought that, he could feel his face untwist from whatever it had mangled itself into.

Maki took a sharp breath in, seemingly going to speak. And then she didn’t. She simply hunched over and let out a slow and drawn huff. And then she looked up to meet Shuichi’s gaze with furious determination, and-

And this rubbed Shuichi the wrong way. Was she really going argue at this point? They were at the building. They had nowhere else to go. They could not rewind time and save the others.

“I don’t know what you’re going to say, but don’t. I hate everything the game stands for, but we’ve been over every reason we’re here already. I’m hungry, I’m tired, I’m pretty sure we’re all in shock, and we don’t have options.” He hissed.

Himiko squeaked behind him. When did she get there? Maki gaped at him as he spun to face Himiko.

“Himiko I… I mean-” Shuichi started, instinctively learning down to her level. The passenger side door swung open.

“Hey.” Teruo greeted. All three of them turned to stare, waiting. Teruo wilted under the attention. “C… could I have your autographs?” He asked timidly.

Nobody said anything. Nobody moved. Shuichi couldn’t even process what he was just asked.

“I told you that they’d be stunned and shocked. But no, you had to ask them. Couldn’t listen to your senior when he said it wasn’t a bright idea.” Their driver whined from inside the car.

“You’re celebrities now... I just wanted-” Teruo twittered. Their driver exited the car through the already open door, placing a hand on his partners shoulder.

“Let’s bring them in, hm?” He suggested. Though, it wasn’t really a suggestion so much as it was a command to stop talking.

“I’ll stay here, take the car back to where it needs to go.” Teruo decided. He circled around to the drivers side and climbed in, leaving the other four behind. Shuichi noticed the company logo brazenly painted on the back. That’s probably how people knew it was them.

“Sorry about him. He’s new.” Their driver said flatly. He was clearly irritated by the sudden event.

“We should probably be getting used to that though…” Shuichi sighed. He looked towards the building. Unassuming, really. Could easily be anything else.

“Yeah… You should probably get used to the concept at least. You are celebrities now.” The man said. He cleared his throat. “Onward!” He declared, steering them forward.

Shuichi ignored Maki’s dirty look. His patience was spent and then some. Himiko was motionless beside him, save for walking motions. Her glassy eyes were focused on nothing.

Air conditioning blasted them pleasantly as they walked through the door. A woman in heels was waiting. “Thank you, I’ll take them from here.” She said.

The man left silently, and Shuichi was left to wonder about him. He didn’t ever say his name, did he?

“If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to separate rooms where you can read over and sign the forms. It’ll take time to become registered as your new selves, so for legal purposes on anything you encounter, be it an order on a product or anything else, you’ll have to use your old names.” She explained. 

Shuichi had a lot of questions. Like; How long it would take for the paperwork to go through? When would they go ‘home’? Where was the food? But ultimately, he bit his tongue and kept quiet.

“How long is the paperwork going to take to go through?” Maki asked curtly.

“A month, at least.” The woman answered. Her tone was still polite.

“When will we see our families?” Himiko asked. 

“Once you’re done filling everything out.” The woman answered again. “Follow me, it’ll take a while.” The woman said, turning and walking down one of the branching hallways.

And so Shuichi was ushered into a room with a stack of papers and vague instructions. He quickly flagged down someone to bring him food, and within minutes it had been placed at the desk.

What a day. Everything crashes and burns, their image of the outside world is shattered, more classmates died, and he gets to eat a sandwich and do paperwork.

At least the sandwich tasted good, though it hardly helped his growing unease. The days absurdity and the resulting stress had made him snap at Maki, but she’d had legitimate points he’d been avoiding.

He shut down the train of thought. No helping any of it. No going back. Focus on the paperwork. Don’t think about the next step or what could be.

He glared at the papers as his attention returned to them. He was used to filling things out already, in anything involving law there was a stack of papers for every action. But that didn’t mean he particularly enjoyed writing and signing things until his hand broke off at the wrist.

Shuichi couldn’t help but think of the office. Unofficially in charge of most of the paperwork and sometimes helping his uncle…. Really brought him back. He couldn’t shake the feeling of quiet peace as he signed the next line, thinking about the silent office filled with only pen strokes and keyboard clicks.

But that wasn’t real, was it? His uncle never existed, neither did their agency, nor did the man who murdered in revenge.

Keep signing, he told himself. Just fill out the papers. He inattentively skimmed the words on the sheet, signing all the necessary lines.

And soon, there were no more lines to sign. He gathered the papers neatly and stood, walking out to talk to the secretary he’d seen near the front.

“Hello?” He asked, uncomfortable. The secretary spun to look at him, wide eyed. “I finished the papers, and I didn’t know where else to take them…” He timidly explained.

“Yes… Allow me. You got done quickly, so it’ll be awhile before your friends finish.” The secretary said, carefully taking the papers.

“For now, you should go back to the room and wait.” They instructed. Shuichi awkwardly waited until he was sure nothing else would be said before skittering away. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the secretary put a wooden ducky paperweight on top of his papers.

And then he was back in the room with nothing to do. After some time he started opening drawers on the desk with the desperate curiosity only the truly bored can achieve.

Why was there an entire drawer of unsharpened pencils? Shuichi did not know, but after only finding other basic office supplies he didn’t particularly care.

Grabbing a handful of pencils he began to entertain himself. He could make the pencils stand on their flat ends with a bit of precision, and it was better than sitting there doing nothing.

Eventually he got an idea, and after an obscene amount of pencils and frustration, he had a two story pencil house. It stood in its yellow unsharpened glory, being absolutely worthless for anything else.

What now? There were still unused pencils (somehow), but not enough to create anything complex or interesting. He supposed he could count how many pencils he used, and with a sticky note and tally marks he got to work.

He gave up on the roof, but counted at least ninety four pencils. Why were there more than a hundred pencils in a drawer? It was beyond him to know. 

With a heavy sigh, and the softest motion he could manage, he put his head on the desk. Bored. There wasn’t anything else of interest either, unless he wanted to take the pictures off the walls and try something with them. Perhaps the tape?

With no small amount of resentment, he began making a scotch tape ball. Did it really take this long for others to fill out paperwork?

He didn’t know. All he knew was that the tape ball was growing at an impressive rate. He became certain that the sound of unrolling and tearing tape would later haunt his memories as he kept adding to his creation.

He barely noticed his eyes get heavy, or the slowing of his thoughts (not that they were going fast to begin with). With a piece of tape still stuck on his finger his hand stalled, and he was out cold for the workers to find when they finally went to retrieve him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to continue the story but I'm not entirely sure where this would go. Shuichi is kind of ooc with his overly snappy temper but cut him (and me) slack he has trauma and shock from the game. On a positive note, while it'll never be written, in my heart a worker goes in and is like "Did he??? Actually make a pencil house???" and they're so impressed they take a picture and leave it intact.  
> As for why Shuichi was left to his own devices, the staff is a lot more concerned with the Ultimate assassin and Himiko who I'm going to call the youngest of them all (The game does not say, so I will say it myself). She's got the least idea of how to deal with paperwork so the friendly post-murder staff is there to help.


	2. What's happening now?

_ Shuichi dreamed of purple, and black and white checkers. He saw them be stained a bloody red as the weight of the fate of humanity crushed them into nothing. And as that fate crumbled into ashen lies, the blood remained. _

“Hey kid, time to wake up.” Someone said, shaking Shuichi’s shoulder. Shuichi’s awakening was the opposite of peaceful as he shot to his feet, his heart rate spiking.

In his panic his hands hit the pencil house he’d made, sending the hundred some pencils tumbling down with dull wooden clacks.

He stared at the mess blankly before picking a few up, opening the pencil drawer, and tossing them in. He absently shook at the tape still on his finger, picking up more pencils in the meantime.

“Kid… Don’t. Leave the pencils, we’re wrapping this all up.” They sighed. A pencil wobbled in Shuichi’s grip before he set it back down and turned to face the newest person. It was the woman in heels.

“So! We’re going to do a few final things, like cleaning out anything you’ve brought with you. Once we’re done, it’s family time.” She informed.

She watched closely as Shuichi owlishly blinked at the mention of family. It was like she expected him to either fly into the sun in joy or burst into flames with disgust. Maybe both, who knew.

Shuichi didn’t do either. He dipped his head in acknowledgment and quietly said “Alright.”

Shuichi looked back at the pencils and tape as they left, and took a moment to try quelling his building apprehension. This would be fine, this would turn out fine, there was no reason to worry.

Right?

He didn’t know. But the woman in heels didn’t slow down, and he had to follow. And now that he got to thinking about it, what all did he have in his pockets? He barely kept track anymore, he’d gotten so much from the monomono machine and the casino.

It wasn’t long before the woman stopped and opened a door. Shuichi quickly walked in and examined everything before him.

Himiko waved at him happily while Maki glowered in the corner. A worker quickly recaptured Himiko’s attention and gave a quick wave goodbye, leaving promptly.

The woman began before Maki could say anything to Shuichi. “Plain and simple, just unload your items onto the table. We’ll examine them, determine if you can keep them or not, and move on.” She informed.

Shuichi nodded and immediately began digging in his pockets. Maki watched him bring out handfuls of stuff as he also debated on what to say.

“I don’t mean to pry, but should you be clearing your pockets too?” Shuichi asked. His random knick knacks clattered as they were placed on the table. The woman was already looking vaguely impressed.

“I didn’t expect anything else, but it does seem that they don’t have much faith in an ultimate assassin.” Maki explained. While her face gave away nothing, her words illuminated the picture rather well. Shuchi looked around uncomfortably, wondering many things he’d never voice.

“Do you have pockets the size of Tokyo?” Maki asked, staring as he brought out another handful of stuff.

“I’ve learned to not question my pockets carrying capacity.” Shuichi said. An indirect answer, but an answer nonetheless. He struggled to keep a straight face as he hit the bigger things, bringing out oolong tea, boba tea, ginger tea, several pearl cocktails, and ketchup.

“Now that you’re done with-” The woman started, almost pleading. She went silent as Shuichi brought out oil, cake, fudge, gum, and several packs of yogurt.

And he continued to bring out more stuff. Even Maki seemed to wilt at the sheer volume of things. He felt two more pairs of eyes turn to him as he continued to bring it all out.

“What magic did you use to make pockets be able to do  _ that _ ?” Himiko asked incredulously. 

“Ask whoever designed this thing.” Shuichi said flatly. Caramel, candy cigarettes, earrings, a bangle,  _ boots _ .

“I don’t understand how you have a straight face.” Maki stated. She looked like she was ready to die, her eyes tracking the boots in particular. Shuichi wasn’t particularly paying attention to what he was bringing out anymore.

“His face may be straight, but his eyes are screaming for death.” Himiko said.

“Please, do find a way to end me with…” Shuichi started, trailing as he pulled out the handcuff bracelet. “Not these. Definitely not these.”

He quickly kept digging. “Here, could you use a scarf?” He asked, pulling it out.

“Everything is a weapon if you try hard enough. Though that won’t be a fast death, mind you.” Maki answered, examining the potential weapon.

“Aaand I will take that.” The woman said quickly, plucking the scarf away and placing it on the table. Shuichi paused, thinking. Did he still have it?

He immediately pulled out the white practice sword. “Unfortunately, it’s ornamental. But…”

Once more, the item was taken from him. “Cease with this fatalist humor.” The woman commanded sourly.

“So close, and yet so far.” Maki said sympathetically. Shuichi couldn’t help the snicker that escaped him. But it was quickly back to dumping his pockets out.

And so more and more stuff piled onto the table. The shock of the unlimited stuff wore off quickly and was replaced with only curiosity as it continued.

“We’re done. I hope.” Shuichi declared, bringing up three keys. The woman gave them a strange look as he held them up.

“Where’s your lock?” Himiko asked in innocence.

“What lock?” Shuichi asked.

“Everyone was handed a lock when the casino opened. Monokuma hinted that they were related to the keys.” Maki explained.

“I… never got a lock. That’s strange…” Shuichi mused.

“Never bought a key. Don’t know what either are for.” Himiko shrugged.

Maki gave a glance towards Himiko. If Shuichi was actually suicidal he’d say the look held as much tenderness as he’d ever seen in Maki, outside of staring at Kaito.

Maki’s eyes quickly narrowed and turned to Shuichi. “Why do you have three?”

“I- I… ah… I bought four and after my first one I never tried the rest.” Shuichi quickly lied. A sour taste flooded his mouth. The lie was too easy. It shouldn’t be too easy, he should’ve never had the practice in trials, lies were-

“What are they for?” Himiko asked. “Why is it suspicious that he has three?”

Maki's face went suspiciously blank. “Monokuma explained it as playing a role in someone else’s fantasy when used.” She explained. 

“What kind of fantasy? Like being a-” Himiko asked, lights starting to twinkle in her eyes as wild fantasies cropped up.

“It’s se-” Shuichi began to say flatly. 

“Ok, time to take these.” The woman declared, snatching them away. Maki was giving him a particularly murderous glare.

Shuichi thought briefly, pondering why Maki was radiating a murderous aura. It then struck him.

“Whatever idea you have, put it to rest.” Maki warned.

“But if you’re so against the keys, you must’ve used-” Shuichi began.

The woman clamped a hand over Shuichi’s mouth. He didn’t understand what was going on until she lurched away with a shriek, cradling her hand.

Did he just… bite her? It would seem so. As she backed away, Shuichi was also lurching back and into Maki.

Nobody moved. There was just silence.

“I lack understanding on how you thought it was a good idea to try to physically restrain someone who had to be on guard for death constantly.” Maki said sourly.

The woman was quiet for a bit before answering. “A knee-jerk response that wasn’t thought out at all.” She sighed.

“Now that we’re done, I’ll lead you to a waiting room. It’ll be a middle ground before you’re brought to your old families.” She said. Her expression had gone blank.

They followed silently, eyeing each other cautiously. Shuichi didn’t know what was going on in Maki or Himiko’s heads, but he had many questions of his own.

The woman swept them into a room. Seven blue chairs sat neatly in a half circle. Shuichi looked at those chairs, and looked back at the two who followed him. 

He awkwardly made his way to one of the chairs, and the other two followed suit. The woman turned to exit, only halted by three words.

“What’s your name?” Shuichi asked. She stared at him, wide-eyed.

“Rin.” She drawled. It was all she said before she shut the door.

Shuichi leaned back in the chair. Rin, but no last name? It was better than how he did with the driver.

“Does anyone else feel….” Maki began. She was clearly struggling to find words.

“Like emotions are swinging on a pendulum? Like we’re about to wake up and it’s all a twisted dream?” Shuichi suggested.

“Yeah.” She agreed quietly. “It’s…” She tried to start. “I’m…” She sighed. 

“It’s ok, you don’t really need words at this point.” Shuichi assured. 

Silence came again. Shuichi glanced at Himiko, who’s intense stare into empty space gave the impression of thought.

“We should find a way to contact each other after we go home.” She declared. She beamed with happiness as she spoke the suggestion. Something about that happiness felt fake.

“A good idea. But how do we-” Shuichi began.

A man stuck his head through the door. “Himiko Yumeno, they’re here.” He stated. The door opened the rest of the way, waiting.

“G… Goodbye.” She said, staring helplessly at Shuichi and Maki. Maki silently stared back.

“Good luck.” Shuichi said, reaching for a hat that didn’t exist to avert his eyes. He idly ran his fingers through his hair as Himiko turned to the door and bounced through. Both remaining children winced as it slammed shut.

There was silence. And then some more silence. Shuichi tapped his fingers against the armrest, trying desperately to ignore the panic. Silence.

“What do you think they’ll be like?” Maki asked. Her gaze was focused on nothing, hands folded into her lap. She was dead still.

“I’ve been trying not to think about it. I don’t want to give myself expectations.” Shuichi answered. He’d only been awake for half an hour- an hour at absolute most- but he was ready to take another nap.

“I hope they’re better than the orphanage.” She whispered. Shuichi was certain she actually meant the assassin organization. But it was easier to pretend that she meant where she was forced to be a role model than where she was made to break over and over to be the best.

“Just think, you can go out into the world and be… normal. Friends and a hobby and…“ He started to assure. “And a life. More than what you were.” He finished.

She laughed hollowly. “Such optimism. What do you think you’ll find, that you didn’t have before?”

Shuichi couldn’t answer. Maki watched him dip his head in thought, and not come back up.

“Shuichi Saihara.” A man called. There he stood, in the door, waiting. Shuichi slowly rose to his feet.

His footsteps were the only noise as he went to the door, outside of the rush of his own heartbeat rising. His throat was closing, but he had so much to say as a goodbye, but the man stood waiting.

Shuichi turned back, pausing to find words. “I hope it gets better for you.” He said. 

“It’s not like that’s a high bar to reach.” Maki sighed. It was like slamming into a wall. Why did he say that, why did he use it as a goodbye, why did-

“Time to go.” The man grunted. Shuichi was left scrambling after the man, down a hallway and towards the front of the building.

He turned the corner to look towards the doors he came through, and was tackled with a hug.

“Minoru!”

… Who?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be honest, I kinda just wanted to finally get this out. I got so stuck on what should happen because it didn't feel right to just get straight to action but I have a thing against unnecessary filler. Beyond that, I hope you like the chapter. Everyone's scared and nobody is dealing with it correctly- nor do they know if there is a 'correctly'- welcome to the shitshow.


	3. Time to meet your parents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi meets his mother and father, and they begin to head home.

Shuichi didn’t have a chance to respond, as the man who led him firmly pried the one who tackled him off.

Their face was finally revealed- A shorter woman with an incredible pout. Her face was slowly twitching into an expression of rage.

“Hi, I’m Shuichi Saihara. Nice to meet you.” Shuichi blurted out.

He immediately felt terrible as her face fell. This was probably his mother judging by the age signs, and he just said ‘nice to meet you’.

“Precisely. He doesn’t know you, and as such you should be taking the time to meet who he is now.” The man said bluntly.

“I warned you, but no, you couldn’t listen.” A different man mumbled.

“No matter what, he-” His mother started, indignant.

“He’s still our son, yes, but he doesn’t know us. Don’t force yourself on him.” The man, likely his father, hissed.

“I’m allowed to hug my son! I haven’t seen him for months, and-”

“And you’ve just tackled him and called him by a name that- in his memory- he’s never gone by. A fantastic first impression if I’ve ever seen one!” His father shouted.

“You’re making just as good of one by being an ass about it.” Shuichi said. Wait no, no, no, no, n-

“Kid’s right. I’ve seen all sorts of first re-meetings, and this one isn’t exactly heart-warming.” The guide man stated bluntly.

His father deflated, and his jaw worked idly. His mother huffed and looked away.

“Sorry. There’s… more going on, but let’s not focus on that right now.” His father sighed. In a couple of strides he closed the distance and clasped Shuichi’s hand.

“I’m Toshio Takahashi, and before the game I was the man who raised you.” He introduced himself. Lower than Shuichi’s mother would catch, Toshio whispered “It won’t be easy to reconnect- but I’ll try my best.”

His mother stood sullenly, arms crossed and lips pressed thin.

“It’ll do you no good to pout dear. It may hurt, but you need to introduce yourself.” His father said sourly.

“Hello, I’m your mother. Sorry your sister couldn’t be here, but she’s out… doing whatever she does.” She said. Her tone was level, but her face betrayed her irritation.

“Your sister is ten years older than you and a grown adult who can make her own decisions.” His father said. His tone was equally level, but his face seemed ready for a poker game.

He had a sister? That was… new. He’d been raised as an only child as far as he could remember.

“I’m Shuichi Saihara, Ultimate Detective. I was essentially raised by my uncle and aunt while my parents were constantly away. That isn’t what you two remember, but it’s what I remember.” Shuichi said. His throat was shut, his palms felt slimy, but he had to say it. He didn’t know who Minoru was. He was Shuichi.

“Which is to be expected, as his memories have been edited to suit the narrative the board wanted.” The guide man interjected. Shuichi got the sense that it was directed at his mother. The direction didn’t stop the bitter taste in his mouth.

His father nodded sagely, and his mother returned to pouting.

“We should probably start going home. And uhh… there was something that we’re supposed to…” His father said, thinking.

“Oh!” His father said, reaching into his pocket. “Therapy, tomorrow at one pm.” He said proudly.

“Therapy…?” Shuichi asked, slightly stunned. “Good to know.” He nodded. His mother stiffened at the mention of therapy.

Shuichi didn’t know what nerve therapy struck, but frankly it seemed to be the most sensible thing that the facility could’ve done.

“Time to go. Places to be, things to do, and so on.” His father declared. Shuichi was swept up and herded out before anybody could object

Twisting back to the guide man he shouted “Goodbye!” as he left. He turned back before he could see the mans reaction, trying to keep up with his fathers pace.

As they went out, a couple swept in. Shuichi pegged them as Maki’s family, but didn’t have time to ponder.

Pausing in the lot Shuichi’s father fumbled with a key fob, and with a click a jeep’s unlocking sounded.

The back door was quickly popped open for him. “Go right on in.” His father said, waving to the interior.

Before Shuichi knew it, they were leaving the parking lot. They entered the stream of cars on the highway and started going to god only knows where.

There was silence, but Shuichi didn’t mind that. He watched other cars drive past, wondering what they were doing with their day.

“Just think, you can see your friends again! Akira especially will be-” His mother started.

“Who?”

His mother went silent. “Well I’m sure your online chatrooms will be happy to see you.” She declared.

“I was active online?” Shuichi asked. He didn’t know how to take it, truthfully. Would they be happy to see him? Would he be able to connect with them now?

“Well ah, you’ll be able to-” His mother started.

“Kimi, just stop.” His father grunted.

“No need to be rude.” His mother huffed.

“There’s a gap between rude and blunt. They’re easily confused by many, but they’re different. In very blunt terms, he won’t remember anything you suggest.” His father explained.

Everyone went silent. Shuichi was back to car watching, but now it was leaving something to be desired.

There was only the sound of the car motor and his own heartbeat to keep him company as they kept driving.

Start, stop, red car. Start, stop, blue truck. Start, stop, green beetle car. Should he shout punch-buggy? How about not. Start, stop, semi truck.

“Tonight will be pretty uneventful, honestly. It’ll take a long time to get home, and outside of eating supper, we’ve got nothing planned.” His father informed.

Shuichi nodded, and turned back to the window. A long ride would be a long ride, there was nothing to do about it. Except talk, but…

Nobody seemed willing to do that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate!! Short chapters!! This is only around 1k words but there's only so much beating an idea with a bat before I had to recognize that trying to milk this particular idea longer was fruitless. Idk maybe my idea of 'long chapters' is really warped, but I would've liked to hit around 4k-5k. Even if I'm not happy with the length I like the content so I'll take what I can get here. Consider this really fast update as a plea for forgiveness for my near two months between 1 and 2.


	4. Shuchi is very tired and just wants the day to end already

Shuichi found the town ringing bells in his memory.

He remembered some of the districts, recognized some of the locations that were near the sites of cases.

The hair on his neck raised as he remembered- those cases weren’t real. Just a narrative to further his character.

At the very least, Tokyo itself didn’t really change. Still busy, still loud. Still very slow road traffic.

The skyline grew taller as the familiar buildings came ever closer, as his distance from ‘home’ decreased. Could he really call where they were going home though?

Entrenched in his own thoughts, Shuichi hardly noticed as they went off the main road. He most certainly noticed his father making a very sudden stop and honking the horn at someone who, based on the partially coherent string of swears, was an idiot who didn’t know how to wait for other cars to cross.

“Are we going home, or do we have something else to do first?” Shuichi asked. The silence of the car finally broken, his father hummed thoughtfully.

“Car’s a rental, so we have to return it quick and take the subway home.” His father explained. It made sense, as there wasn’t much space for cars in the streets of such a crammed city.

The next sequence of events were done quickly and without incident. The car was parked in the lot, the keys removed, and passengers unloaded. They quickly went into the building to return the keys.

The bell dinged softly as they went in, the bored desk worker looking up briefly from the computer.

Shuichi’s father strode forward with the keys, leaving Shuichi and his mother behind.

Shuichi shifted awkwardly on his feet, lacking anything to say to the woman beside him. The desk worker occasionally glanced over to them, still talking with Shuichi’s father.

Shuichi personally just wanted to melt into the wallpaper and never be seen again. Paranoia crept in, whispering at the edges of his consciousness.

His father finally backed away from the desk, and waved goodbye. The worker raised a hand in return as Shuichi and company rushed out.

Shuichi could feel his fear alight like wildfire as he heard a slam. When he looked back, the worker had their phone out and was happily snapping a picture of him. They smiled and waved with the radiance of the sun.

It was a miracle he was not frozen to the spot, dashing away after he waved back.

“Where too?” he asked, quickly stepping to the side. His view of the worker disappeared entirely.

His mother started chattering about the route they’d take from here while his father simply started walking, leaving them to tail behind.

They passed various storefronts as they want, and plenty of people. Most didn’t look up, thankfully. Shuichi still wished dearly for a change of clothes, the academy uniform likely labelling him proudly to anyone with the observational skills to see it.

He saw pictures snapped out of the corners of his eyes, and he longed to run. But there was nowhere to go, at least if he wanted to be in a house by the end of the day.

He finally spotted the subway entry, and they kept walking slowly towards it. And finally, they were in.

More people, but less who were focused on what was going on around them. Everyone just wanted to get to their destination, and that was fine by Shuichi.

He waited uncomfortably as his father paid the train fare, looking around.

He’d been in this station many times. Once, he and his uncle-

…

The fare was paid, and they went forward. His father dashed for a seat, and Shuchi settled for standing. His mother quietly took the spot beside him.

They waited for the rest of the passengers to get on, and the train lurched into action. Shuichi only swayed slightly- even the time in the hell school couldn’t take the instincts from being in a city away from him.

The passengers were released from the time crunch of getting onto the train, and had the freedom to glance around.

Eyes down, body still, stay silent. Perhaps he could go unnoticed. This was still the city after all, even if people looked it didn’t mean they’d notice.

Shuichi couldn’t help but wonder how Himiko and Maki were doing. Where were they? How were they doing?

Shuichi nearly threw himself out the train windows when he noticed his mother right in front of his face.

“Let’s try….” She hummed, licking her fingers. He hand snaked up to smooth down his hair.

“Oh lord, it’s still up.” She hissed. What?

Shuichi ran his free hand through his hair, stopping at what his aunt had always unironically referred to as his ‘ahoge’. He personally hated it, but he could never say no to her squeals of delight as it waved around.

“Does it matter?” Shuichi asked, putting thoughts of his aunt out of his head. His mother’s lips thinned to a line.

“You’re getting noticed.”

Shuichi’s focus snapped to the rest of the people in the train. Cameras, a gaggle of girls giggling, more eyes than he _ever_ wanted on him.

“Oh great, it’s emotive.” His mother fumed.

“What!?” Shuichi hissed quietly. “Since when have I not had this? And what do you mean by emotive?” He questioned.

His mother flinched at the harsh tone. “Blame the danganronpa team! You didn’t have it before, and they probably put it on so that their logical character was more expressive.” She fummed.

Shuichi could feel the color drain away from his face. That couldn’t be true, could it?

It… it was probably true. His memories of his aunt weren’t real, and that meant he couldn’t trust his memories of having it.

He could feel the train come to a halt, but his mind was too entrenched in his horror to care.

“Not our stop.” His father mumbled.

What else had the team done to him? To any of them? He, Kaede, and Kaito had seemed similar to how they were in the game from the audition videos, but clearly that didn’t mean too much.

“Good, you got it to go down. Keep it like that, maybe less people will notice.” His mother sighed.

Shuichi gave a distressed noise in response to her blasé comment

“Do everyone a favor, and don’t talk for the rest of the trip.” His father hissed. His mother puffed up, but remained silent.

Shuichi was left to grit his teeth as people loaded on and the train lurched forward once again. People slowly noticed him, but nobody made a scene. Just picture taking and finger pointing.

Despite no major anythings happening regarding his presence, Shuichi’s anxiety slowly rose higher and higher. He wanted out of the train, out of sight, into literally anywhere else.

He wanted to go home.

Eyes down, body still, stay silent. He could only wait.

After the first wave of pictures the crowd decided he was being rather uninteresting and went back to their normal routine.

The chatter of the train filled in around him. There was nothing but the noise to distract him, not even his own thoughts could rise up enough to take him away from reality.

He knew the exact moment the train started slowing, and when the doors finally opened he was the first of his family to walk forward.

His father burst out of the train immediately after Shuichi paused to wait. Fear radiated off of him in waves as he took a long stunned look at Shuichi.

“Wait for us, ok?” His father coughed, the tension still hanging.

“I just wanted to be off the train.” Shuichi said simply.

His father starred in silence, and his mother finally appeared beside them.

“Let’s go. Before someone decides to make a scene.” He father muttered, tugging both Shuichi and his mother along.

His father had them all but running out of the station, bursting into the sunlight. He slowed considerably, but still tugged them along in an effort to keep moving.

Shuichi couldn’t say it bothered him in the slightest. If anything, his father was reading his exact mood and trying to act on it. People didn’t even look at them as they rushed past.

They took a sudden turn towards a row of apartment complexes, marching straight through the front doors of one.

A bell quietly dinged, and his father rushed off to try getting an elevator. The desk worker quickly looked up to see which residents had entered.

“Minoru! It’s been forever since I last saw you!” She waved enthusiastically. It was only his mothers arm in his ribs that made him realize he was being talked to.

“Ah… yes, hello…” Shuichi coughed awkwardly. Who the hell was this person? The mid twenty year old bounced excitedly.

“I can’t even tell you how long it’s been! Where were you all this time?” She chattered. What, nobody told her?

“When the hell did you get an ahoge mod anyways? I knew you were into danganronpa, who isn’t, but I didn’t peg you for trying to strive for that protagonist feel.” She continued. … What the fuck was a mod?

“Oh! You said to look on tv but I’ve been preoccupied with the newest danganronpa season.” She carried on.

“That’s where you were supposed to look!” His mother squealed. Oh god.

“Oh my god!! Which one were… SHUICHI SAIHARA!!!” The desk worker yelled. Was it too late to have Maki stab him? Summon her from the void and just run him through.

“We’re going up to the apartment now.” His father declared, setting his hand on Shuchi’s shoulder. Shuichi only nodded and headed towards the open elevator.

His mother wailed as they rushed, likely wanting to scream with the enthusiastic desk worker.

They were alone in the elevator, the silence wrapping around a noose.

“What do we do for dinner tonight?” His mother huffed. “It’s too late to start something.”

“I can run and get takeout from one of the restaurants nearby. You can let Shuichi explore in the meantime.” His father answered curtly.

The elevator dinged, and Shuichi was pushed out. Getting pushed and dragged was getting old.

A quick pause, a fumble with keys, and an open door led him into a place he wished he could recognize.

A cat took a break from chasing the roomba to scream towards him. It immediately twirled around his ankles and continued screaming in an effort to get him to pay attention.

“Well the cat’s excited at least.” His father grunted, walking into the apparent living room.

Shuichi wordlessly picked up the cat, and the cat immediately began purring. He could only stare at it’s content face while the wave of emotions battled against him.

“Is the cats name Muffin?” He asked, feeling stupid.

“Yes, actually… the team must’ve used pre-existing memories to help build your new ones.” His father mused.

“Alright.” Shuichi sighed, walking father into the room.

It felt like the home of a family he’d never even wanted to know. The awkward times when there’s a group project and everybody needs to meet somewhere and you don’t know the person whose house got picked.

Muffin purred happily in his arms, pleased to have him back. Shuichi shifted on his feet, trying to figure out where to go.

“Second door on the left was your room.” His father informed calmly, pointing to a hall.

Shuichi darted into the room, grateful to be away from everything at last. He set Muffin down and closed the door before collapsing to the ground, kneeling in despair.

The memories needed to stop, they needed to die, buried under six feet of dirt, he didn’t need to think of how his aunt adored the cat or how he learned everything he could about cat care to make her smile and stop her from worrying about Muffins health.

The memories needed to stop.

Just stop.

s t o p

 

Muffin headbutted his face, and Shuchi was forced back into reality.

The cat began climbing on his side, over him. When did he lay down? Muffin only seemed to want snuggles as they tried using his side as a place to flop.

The unblinking eyes didn’t break contact as he stared. Shuichi knew he was pulling meaning from nothing, but the eyes seemed to tell him it was time to get back up.

The cat however, found the ahoge to be a fascinating new toy. In its own way, this was a better wake up call, because having his head attacked hurt. He thrashed as Muffin pounced around, trying to capture the dreaded monstrosity that was his cat.

Finally, simply standing and throwing the cat off worked. Muffin still bounced around excitedly, eyeing the waving hair.

Shuichi only sighed at the cats enthusiasm. If only he could have nearly that much energy.

He began sifting through the room. It seemed to have been given basic cleaning during his absence as it lacked dust, and the items strewn around gave hints to who he was before.

He found a copious amount of hats strewn around, several posters for shows he’d never heard of, and lots of random knicknacks that didn’t actually hint towards anything.

Shuichi took the plainest hat in the seeming _collection_ he’d found and put it on. Much better.

Muffin perched on his bed and yowled at him. Shuichi ignored this.

Shuichi picked up what was pretty much glass with a thin case. He weighed it in his hands, trying to figure out what the purpose of it was.

Touching his fingers to the glass made quick work of the question. The device lit up having scanned his fingerprints and loaded a home screen.

Questions bounced around in Shuichi’s head. Primarily how this device was even functioning being nothing more than a case on glass.

This was certainly not the technology he grew up with. Yeah there were some leaps and bounds during his own time, but…

But the first game was fifty years ago and technology doesn’t sit still for that long.

He pushed the thoughts out. They were best pondered for later, as he did not need another break down.

He tentatively tapped on apps, quickly grasping the purpose of them and leaving immediately

And then he tapped what he quickly figured to be a chat app. He was about to tap out, but...

 

**Hell yeah… fukcing pan cake:** HE L I V E S

**An alien, but poorly disguised** : DUDE WE CAN SEE YOU HOW WAS DANGANRONPA?

**T h o r s t y:** Which character was he though,,,

**Hell yeah… fukcing pan cake:** We can discuss that later!! How was the game??

 

Shuichi was faced with a very serious decision.

 

**‘BOUTA MURDER SOMEONE:** Traumatizing.

 

_Holy shit why was that his name on the server???_

 

**An alien, but poorly disguised:** Use some logic you fucks, if he’s male and only one out of the three survivors was male then which character do you think he was?

**‘BOUTA MURDER SOMEONE:** Hey quick question _how the hell do I change names on here._

**T h o r s t y:** Aw c’mon it’s funny, you were so excited to be a detective murderer.

**Momther** : Haha yeah I’m gonna stop y’all there, Shuichi the command to do nicknames is /nick

**Shuichi Saihara:** Thank you

**17 raccoons exactly:** How’ve you been holding up

**An alien, but poorly disguised:** Oh boy the long typing period, what horrors will we find out today?

**Shuichi Saihara:** Well y’know, contemplating reality after I was told my life was a lie, thinking of the deaths of 13 people all for entertainment value and the subsequent realization that they technically weren’t real either, and then after the hell building collapsed I got rushed off to go do paperwork to make me legally a person again, and then picked up by people I don’t know but are apparently my parents.

**An alien, but poorly disguised:** That’s kind of par for the course

 

Shuichi would only bite his lip at that. Yeah, Minoru sighed up for it, but Shuchi….

Minoru chose the fame and fortune and murder of Danganronpa. Shuichi was an innocent kid dragged into hell.

 

**Shuichi Saihara:** I’m going to log off before I have another panic attack.

**17 raccoons exactly:** WAIT WHAT

**Hell yeah… fukcing pan cake:** ARE YOU ALRIGHT?

 

Shuichi was not alright, as well as done talking to the server. After a bit of fumbling he managed to turn off the device.

Drained of energy, Shuichi simply crawled into the bed. He didn’t have words.

Muffin immediately flopped down right in front of his face, and Shuichi didn’t have the motivation to push Muffin away.

He was just tired.

This day needed to end.

He wanted to go back to the agency and hide under the desk and take a nap. It got uncomfortable after a while, but nobody would find him. Or maybe his uncle would just ignore it, Shuichi never exactly knew.

But here he was, in a bed he didn’t remember with a cat he shouldn’t remember. Muffin trilled away, happy to waller on Shuichi’s face.

Shuichi simply closed his eyes. He was done for today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is entirely irrelevant to the actual chapter but I'd just like y'all to know that because of a shitty joke involving Kaede and Garfield I had a picture of Kaede's head on c/p and accidentally hit control v instead of control b in docs at the point where the nickname 'BOUTA MURDER SOMEONE first appears and I had to take a moment from writing to stop giggling, especially because the name in this context is a joke about Minoru's willingness to murder previously.


End file.
